Penn cleans house

[PNG]

Seems to me Penn management has the same arrogance of the Big 3 Auto Manufacture’s of the 70's versus the Japanese auto's and look what happened to them.

I hope you (Penn) will listen to what is being said here because it's been falling on deaf ears for so long.

I "was" dyed in the wool Penn (spin) but sold every one I had opting for Shimano, that was hard to do. Convince me & others to come back but for now I am sticking with a much greater performing product.

Throw this at management - I bet MikeCC has sold 75 Shimano to a lonely 1 Penn (both spin) and, AND if Shimano changes the spool on their boat reel to be wire friendly watch out your 112/113/114's are in trouble. He is one small shop in one small town, add'm up.

Penn =

[snake slinger]

how maeny surf caught fish were on a 704?penn needs to step up to the plate

[Mike P]

Here's what I would suggest.

Van Staal proved there was a market for a premium spinning reel. Right now, Penn has written off that market. Shimano and Daiwa jumped in with both feet, with the Stella and Saltiga. They're proving guys will spend $600-$700, or even close to $800, for a quality product. If you could engineer a similar product, build it here, and bring it to the market in the $400-$500 price point, you'd have an instant success.

You want to make Zebco rue the day they ever acquired Van Staal? Re-engineer the 704 and 706. One little tweak--figure a way to retro-design them with "instant" roller-bearing anti-reverse. You could bump the price to $200 or even $250 and sell every one you make. Bring back the 710 and 712 with the same tweak---maybe even manual conversion capability, and you'd wipe the VS 150 and 100 out.

Oh yeah---one other thing. Tell the guys in production to ship the damn things with adequate grease inside a new reel. Most of the Slammers are dry as a bone inside, new out of the box. I hate spending $135 for a reel only to have to break it down and grease it before I use it.

[mikecc]

I bet MikeCC has sold 75 Shimano to a lonely 1 Penn (both spin)

Close chris. we have sold 78 Shimano and only 1 Penn Spinning (706) but we have sold 6 Penn 113HSP ,1 - 330GTI and only 1 Shimano Boat reel.

This is lhe last post for me on this subject.

I'll I have to say is there is no reason for me to believe in Penn when the Company does not believe in themselves.

[spence]

Shimano makes a fantastic reel, and has terrific customer service.

But I have to echo everything Mike P just said. I love my VS, but needing another spinner I fretted over another VS or the Saltiga. I ended up buying a 704 off ebay...I would have easily spent up to 400 on any other product that had a nice anti-reverse and could deal with the suds...

-spence

[snake slinger]

mike p hit the nail on the head.

[BK From Penn]

Originally Posted by mikecc

Close chris. we have sold 78 Shimano and only 1 Penn Spinning (706) but we have sold 6 Penn 113HSP ,1 - 330GTI and only 1 Shimano Boat reel.

This is lhe last post for me on this subject.

I'll I have to say is there is no reason for me to believe in Penn when the Company does not believe in themselves.

OUCH!!!

MikeCC, How about this for believing: Within five years, Penn will regain any lost ground from the past 15 year hiatus and move to the top of the food chain once again. Don't worry, there are still many that believe in Penn, and this includes Dealers up and down and around the coast. And as far as believing, Penn believes in Dealers that believe in us.

Here we are, launching new, improved, and revolutionary products and/or accessories; not really the sign of a company that does not believe in itself. What about the new Penn Dura-Drag, the Baja Special, the 118 new rods that we designed for 2005, the new fishing line that we launched this January, the new XXXX and XXXX-X that we can't talk about yet? I don't get the impression that we don't believe in ourselves, quite the contrary...
BK

[rwilhelm]

I have a 560 Slammer and when I first used the reel I really liked it. Was very smooth and seemed to have a good drag. Maybe it is just me but whenever I dunk this reel, the drag is almost non-existant. One thing I think would have been a good idea is to have put a bronze main gear on the slammer instead of whatever that metal is on there now. I broke a couple of teeth on the main gear this past season.

[BK From Penn]

Originally Posted by rwilhelm

I have a 560 Slammer and when I first used the reel I really liked it. Was very smooth and seemed to have a good drag. Maybe it is just me but whenever I dunk this reel, the drag is almost non-existant. One thing I think would have been a good idea is to have put a bronze main gear on the slammer instead of whatever that metal is on there now. I broke a couple of teeth on the main gear this past season.

Not sure why the drag would disappate when dunked, as you should have a sealed drag knob, and with the drag under-the-spool, there is much less chance for water to intrude. Check to see if the drab knob has a small gasket, if not, I would recommend picking up another one from your local Penn Dealer or call our Parts department. If you have the gasket, I'd then check to make sure the drag plate is screwed down. Other than that, I don't have an answer.

I guess I should also find out, are you wetsuiting with the reel, or is this an occassional wave breaking over you that is causing this to occur. If wetsuiting, I would recommend a drag lube that will help keep water from instruding. I would also disassemble the reel after each trip, and rebuild, as the Slammer is not a water proof reel like the Van Staal.

As far as the main gear, I believe it is a hardened naval bronze, so I am not sure why there would be any problems. Without seeing the reel, or the condition is was in, I am working blind, so I won't try to guess what the issue might be. Has this been repaired already? If not, I would love to have it sent to me for evaluation.

Feel free to get back to me at your convenience.
BK

[BK From Penn]

Again, please feel free to email with specific questions.

Thanks for the commentary and opportunity to reply. THere will always be those that hate, disagree with everything we are doing, and have nothing but negative to say. Great, bring it on; Penn can't be everything to everyone. As long as we are making reels/rods/products that I can personally say I would fish with, I'm a happy camper. Have a great season, and tight lines to all.

Looking forward to some emails with specific questions.

Best regards,
Brent

[outfished]

And a big horrah for Penn! In China, it is estimated by many that of the 10 million children out of school, over 5 million are working in factories! Labor cost will drop, prices will go up and we get IMO, you sold your soul to the devil

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Mike P

You want to make Zebco rue the day they ever acquired Van Staal? Re-engineer the 704 and 706. One little tweak--figure a way to retro-design them with "instant" roller-bearing anti-reverse. You could bump the price to $200 or even $250 and sell every one you make. Bring back the 710 and 712 with the same tweak---maybe even manual conversion capability, and you'd wipe the VS 150 and 100 out.

Available Manual conversion
Instant Reverse
Tapered Spool
Large Roller
Sealed Drag
Ventilated/Cross drilled spool * cup
Otherwise gasketed/sealed reel
Get rid of the damn clicker (pisses off some nighttime guys that don't lube the crap out of it)
Fix the Bail Flip

[Mike P]

Roller bearing "instant" anti-reverse would do away with the clicker. No one I know back-reels those things with the anti-reverse off anyway, so there's no need for a switchable on/off anti-reverse. All it would do is add needless parts to a simple design.

Some machinists already slot the rotor cups, and most users drill the bottom of the cup. It's possible to make them that way (even with cast aluminum) without weaking the cup.

You don't even have to make them "sealed" like the VS. They're so simply designed inside that anyone who can turn a screwdriver and an adjustable wrench can break it down, clean it and re-lube them in less than half an hour.

For guys who want a bail, you could design the 704/710/712 so the bail only flips manually, like the Saltiga's. I can do it now by using the manual conversion kit, if I wanted a 704 with a bail that only flips by hand. I prefer the pure manual pick-up, but using the piece of the conversion kit that locks down the external bail trip, and removing the bail spring, you can have a "manual bail" instead of a pick-up.

The biggest beef guys have with Van Staal, besides the price, is the costly "annual service", and the difficulty in self-servicing them. I'm telling you, with mine and John's tweaks to the 7-series Spinfishers, you'd put a big dent in VS sales. We're out there fishing with the hard cores, and we listen. Penn management should listen, too. I know the surfcasting market is kind of a niche one, but the potential to sell these "Penn Staal" dreams is there

[Karl F]

Brent, print all this out and take it to management, your company should listen hard to this advise, they could spend thousands of dollars and up in market research, and not come up with advise as good as what's been written here.
Build them like the above recommendations, and watch them fly.

[PurpelNoon]

Man years ago, a top executive at Motorola decided to actually listen to an employee and the company took offfrom there.
Many years ago, top executives at Sony said that they will CREATE a market and people will comply. That was a big FLOP. It was only until they looked at what the market wanted (read: Unmet Needs) that they succeeded.

If people at Penn would listen to what the majority of anglers are asking for, and have a little PASSION, Penn would be an All-Star company.

The company has been sitting on its laurels for too long. Oldsmobile was first, Buick wil be next. Don't follow the corwd, do something about it. Improve your reels!!